The Future of AIP is here

What does the future of healing Autoimmune Disease look like? One thing I know for sure, is that is does not look like what it did two years ago. So much has changed and the science has continued to evolve. That is good news for you. More options at your fingertips. More resources at your disposal. Healing is at hand.

Over the last two years I have changed my clinical perspective to include evolving science and emerging mindfulness practices. In addition to being a nutritionist for 17 years, over the last three years I have had two full-time jobs. One is working one-on-one with clients and doing workshops. Oh yeah, and I also wrote my book The Loving Diet!

The other full-time job I had was honing and developing my decade long mindfulness practice. I have been working intensely with masters who are some of the greatest healers and teachers on the planet. It has been an extreme honor. There is nothing very complex about this work, however it has been the hardest work I have ever done. It is about learning how to stay present and loving. It is about actively asking love to touch the places inside myself it isn’t. It is about taking responsibility inside myself for examining the relationship to my life. It is only when we do this for ourselves that we can help others do it. As you heal, I am healing too. It has been a beautiful unfoldment for me to extend my heart-work to my professional work. One does not become a mindfulness expert by taking a class or completing a course. Becoming a mindfulness expert is one of experience, vulnerability and the willingness to be in the trenches of one’s own life. Over and over and over again. Could I have done this work when I was 30? Or 35? Yes, but not very well. Time, wisdom, experience and being with clients in a loving space for the past 3 years has allowed me now to bring a richness to my work that I could not have hoped for a decade ago. Now, at 43, I understand what the zen masters mean when they tell their students to ‘spend more time on the cushion’. The more I do this work, the more it becomes apparent that illness is a manifestation of troubles that were upstream in our life. So now I go upstream with my clients first. And I only do that because I am willing to go upstream in my own life. I have an understanding now by virtue of experience how to take client on such a journey.

I also include physiology and diet along with that. Dr. Datis Kharrazian and Dr. Brandon Brock have been my physiology teachers. I have been sitting in the classroom these last three years that is so advanced, it is not recognized by medicine yet. I consider it to be the top 1% of functional medicine education. I evolved how I approach AIP now because I saw too many people not getting better, and saw the clinical failings of blindly following a diet that was not personalized. I do not follow AIP as I did three years ago. I can’t in good conscious. Too much has been brought forward by innovative thinkers and my own clinical finding that prove that the path we have been taking is outdated. How this translates however is that practitioners are required to know more and be more to clients. No more “here, follow this AIP food list.” It levels the playing field.

So, welcome to the future. I love all of you.

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Jessica

Jessica Flanigan is a clinical nutritionist, author and spiritual coach. She has developed many mind-body techniques for those with chronic disease to develop a different relationship with their circumstances and find healing.

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2 Comments

Erin
January 19, 2016 at 1:40 pm

Hi Jessica! I love your work – I found your book soon after my scleroderma diagnosis, and am SO fortunate that I did. The self love piece has been the most helpful component to the past several months of my life.
I recently received results from the Cyrex Array 10 – and there were really no foods that I am sensitive to – and I was sure to expose myself to most of them before the test. I’ve been primarily paleo for the past 1.5 years (after 20 years a vegetarian!), and I’m confused as to where to go from here. If I had my choice, I’d stick with paleo and not worry about AIP, as it feels very limiting and stressful. I am a recovered bulimic, and have worked very hard to make peace with food. Perhaps this was my lesson with the test – to learn that food is not my enemy! I am trying to see it as a good thing, versus being discourage and confused. Knowing what I know about the connection between autoimmune stuff and gut health…it leaves me wondering.
I am curious if you have seen this before, and if so…where do you typically go from here? I am working with a naturopath to look into coinfections (I am battling SIBO, it gets better and then worse..) For the record, I am a 31 year old mom of a toddler, and my health stuff all started about a year postpartum.
Thank you so much for any of your thoughts. Your work is life-changing. Your energy is so calm, grounded and compassionate – I wish I could bottle it up!!

Hi Erin! That is such great news about your Cyrex test! And I totally agree about Paleo vs. AIP if you can swing it, which it sounds like you can based on your results. The SIBO..keep working on it! I would be sure your ND is keeping a prokinetic in the mix and that you perhaps practice yoga breathing like alternating nostril breathing to keep your vagus nerve stimulated. Sounds like you are on your way and coming through your postpartum piece. Congratulations!! So wonderful you are finding your pace for everything. As you find your way, we all find our way by you spreading that into the world. Much love to you xx-jessica

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